LEADER 04088nam 2200625Ia 450 001 9910459349303321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a0-674-03817-7 024 7 $a10.4159/9780674038172 035 $a(CKB)2670000000015728 035 $a(StDuBDS)AH23050724 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000340660 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11266914 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000340660 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10388798 035 $a(PQKB)11099180 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC3300770 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL3300770 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10347325 035 $a(OCoLC)923115971 035 $a(DE-B1597)574657 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780674038172 035 $a(EXLCZ)992670000000015728 100 $a19980422d1998 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur||||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aMurder most foul$b[electronic resource] $ethe killer and the American Gothic imagination /$fKaren Halttunen 210 $aCambridge, Mass. $cHarvard University Press$d1998 215 $a1 online resource (xiv, 322p., [32]p. of plates )$cill., facsims., plan, ports 300 $aBibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph 311 $a0-674-00384-5 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 253-312) and index. 327 $aIntroduction 1. The Murderer as Common Sinner 2. The Birth of Horror 3. The Pornography of Violence 4. The Construction of Murder as Mystery 5. Murder in the Family Circle 6. Murdering Medusa 7. The Murderer as Mental Alien Epilogue Notes Index 330 8 $aIn this text, Karen Halttunen explores the changing view of murder from early New England sermons read at the public executions, through to the true crime literature and tabloid reporting of the late 1990's.$bConfronting murder in the newspaper, on screen, and in sensational trials, we often feel the killer is fundamentally incomprehensible and morally alien. But this was not always the popular response to murder. In Murder Most Foul , Karen Halttunen explores the changing view of murder from early New England sermons read at the public execution of murderers, through the nineteenth century, when secular and sensational accounts replaced the sacred treatment of the crime, to today's true crime literature and tabloid reports. The early narratives were shaped by a strong belief in original sin and spiritual redemption, by the idea that all murders were natural manifestations of the innate depravity of humankind. In a dramatic departure from that view, the Gothic imagination--with its central conventions of the fundamental horror and mystery of the crime--seized upon the murderer as a moral monster, separated from the normal majority by an impassable gulf. Halttunen shows how this perception helped shape the modern response to criminal transgression, mandating criminal incarceration, and informing a social-scientific model of criminal deviance. The Gothic expression of horror and inhumanity is the predominant response to radical evil today; it has provided a set of conventions surrounding tales of murder that appear to be natural and instinctive, when in fact they are rooted in the nineteenth century. Halttunen's penetrating insight into her extraordinary treasure trove of creepy popular crime literature reveals how our stories have failed to make sense of the killer and how that failure has constrained our understanding and treatment of criminality today. 606 $aGothic revival (Literature)$zUnited States 606 $aMurder in literature 606 $aMurder$zUnited States$vCase studies 606 $aMurder$zUnited States$xHistory 608 $aElectronic books. 615 0$aGothic revival (Literature) 615 0$aMurder in literature. 615 0$aMurder 615 0$aMurder$xHistory. 676 $a364.15/23/0973 700 $aHalttunen$b Karen$f1951-$0152044 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910459349303321 996 $aMurder most foul$92184890 997 $aUNINA